Feds investigate Mississippi prisons after string of deaths
Source: AP
By MICHAEL BALSAMO and EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the Mississippi prison system after a string of inmate deaths in the past few months, officials said Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors are looking into conditions at four state prisons after the deaths of at least 15 inmates since late December. The investigation is examining whether state corrections officials are adequately protecting prisoners from physical harm and will look into whether there are adequate health care and suicide prevention services.
The investigation by the Justice Department’s civil rights division will specifically focus on conditions at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, the South Mississippi Correctional Institution, the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility and the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, the Justice Department said.
The Wilkinson facility holds state prisoners, and the state pays a private company, Management & Training Corporation, to operate it.
FILE - This is a July 12, 2002 file photo of the entrance to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Miss. The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the Mississippi prison system after a string of inmate deaths in the past few months, officials said Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Rogelio Solis, File)
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